


Smitten in the Snow

by VigilantePond



Category: Guardians of the Galaxy (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Christmas, F/F, Mistletoe, Protective Girlfriend, first snow
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-23
Updated: 2018-12-23
Packaged: 2019-09-25 08:05:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 800
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17117582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/VigilantePond/pseuds/VigilantePond
Summary: It's almost Christmas and the Guardians try to set up Mantis and Nebula, but things happen naturally anyway.





	Smitten in the Snow

_Rockin' around the Christmas tree_

_At the Christmas party hop_

_Mistletoe hung where you can see_

_Every couple tries to stop_

For once, The Milano switched to a new Christmas cassette that Gamora tried making for Peter. The song may have been from the the ‘50s instead of their regular dose of ‘70s music, but he appreciated the sentiment nonetheless. The ship was also adorned with gold tinsel and rainbow coloured baubles, even a small bare Christmas tree in the corner which Groot occasionally talked to when he thought nobody was looking. 

Suddenly, the sound of Nebula’s boots scuffling down the hallway echoed through the ship. “Quick, she’s coming. Mantis, go stand over there,” Drax whispered, pointing to the arched entrance to the pit. 

Mantis shrugged and did as she was told, positioning herself rigidly. She tried to act natural, but it was anything but. Her back was straight and stiff, and she plastered a wide grin on her face — too wide for any regular grin. 

“What?” Nebula grunted, pausing to scowl at Mantis who was blocking her way. 

“There’s a mistletoe, you have to kiss!” Drax shouted, and then proceeded to belt out an obnoxious guffaw. 

Nebula cursed under her breath, and yanked off the leaves with one swift tug. She ground her rugged boot over the mistletoe, leaving the innocuous white berries crushed into nothing but smidgens. With that, she stomped off the ship and headed out to the snowy planet which they landed on. 

“Great, now you made her angry,” Rocket chided. 

“She’s always angry,” Drax retorted. 

Mantis lowered her head as her lips began to tremble. She blinked away the oncoming tears and bolted after Nebula, hoping she hadn’t ruined their friendship. Snow crunched beneath her quavering feet with every step, they matched the rhythm of her pounding heart. The planet was freezing, but Mantis’ body adapted to new environments rapidly. Besides, her nerves and anxiety caused the back of her neck to sweat. 

“Nebula,” she called out. The cyborg was standing in the middle of spacious land, staring into the distance with a yearning gaze in her black eyes. She turned around slowly, but didn’t say anything. “I want to apologize. It’s okay if you didn’t want to kiss me. I know I’m ugly, and weird…”

“Shut up, you’re not ugly. Or weird,” Nebula snapped. 

“Really?”

“ _No._ And of course I want to… to kiss you,” Nebula mumbled, “Just not back there with all those idiots watching.”

Mantis’ face lit up, and she let out a small audible gasp. Nebula took the chance and pressed her mouth against her parted lips, the way she did thousands of times in her dreams. The empath slowly placed her hand on Nebula’s cool metal arm, and pulled her closer. She tried to recall how Peter and Gamora did this, as she’d seen their numerous public displays of affection. It turns out, they didn’t need a mistletoe to kiss — just the right moment.

All of a sudden, she felt small flicks of snowflakes drift onto her nose. Soon enough, they seemed to dance all around them and covered her black and green hair like tiny pieces of cotton. Mantis pulled away from Nebula and gaped at the sky in awe. “It’s beautiful!” she exclaimed. 

“Is this your first snow?” Nebula asked with an amused half smile. 

Mantis nodded keenly. “I have seen snow on the floor before, but not falling like this. I like it very much.” _Of course she had never experienced it before,_ thought Nebula; her life with Ego was stifling and confined. Then, her attention fixated back on Nebula. “I like you very much too,” she blurted out.

“I…like you too… very much,” Nebula stuttered. 

Just then, Mantis felt a large slab of snow strike her back, like an asteroid flung off course. She turned to see Drax and Rocket spying on them, and they had apparently commenced a snowball fight. 

_Oh it’s on_. “Don’t you dare touch her!” Nebula yelled. She glowered at them, especially Drax. Next, she shielded Mantis with one arm, and scooped up a snowball with her cybernetic hand, hurling it directly at his face. It knocked him backwards and pushed him into the thick snow. 

“I told you guys to leave them alone,” Gamora scolded from the window. 

“Yeah. Not cool, man!” Peter added. 

Rocket helped pull Drax back out of the snow, while Nebula continued to shoot a lethal glare at them. She wrapped an arm around Mantis, and the pair trudged further away from the ship. They could be headed into an impending blizzard, but it didn’t matter to Mantis. She smiled to herself thinking about how she could finally have some much anticipated alone time with Nebula. In her definition, this was a truly magical Christmas indeed. 

 


End file.
